Do we need Federal regulations to protect privacy on the Internet?

As the World Wide information highway continues to grow there are certain facts that we need to come to terms with. we can always expect the to impose regulations on privacy. How can you actually do that to full scale anyway. People need to take responsibility for their own privacy. Why do people want the Government to impose regulations on privacy? Because they want to be able to surf the internet, put in their credit card number when making purchases, trust that when the put in their phone number and personal address that it is secured without having to worry about possible intruders invading their privacy. They are lazy. They want the government to enforce policy on something that we should be aware of our selves. We need to educate ourselves an realize that nothing is sacred. The real key to insuring your privacy is to not provide information about yourself. I believe that people expect too much from the Internet, and let’s face these super intelligent computer hackers will find someway around the government regulations. Even though their would be a law that still would not stop someone from obtaining your personal information and invading your privacy. The Government regulations would be nice, but it certainly is not the solution to the problem. As it stands right now there is no such thing as privacy on the Internet, so how can government regulations protect it. Most electronic mail on the Internet is about as private as a postcard. After it leaves the sender's computer, the message goes from one network server to the next as it streams toward the recipient. The problem is, it's easy for a hacker to intercept the message in route and impossible to tell if anyone else has read this supposedly private correspondence before it reaches its destination.

A good example of they famous fly on the wall are internet Cookies, which are bits of information stored on you PC by Web Sites so that they can collect data form your computer, including your name and email address. Because of situations like these Congressmen Ed Markey , has introduced Legislation called The Communications Privacy An Consumer Empowerment Act, that would consumer information on the Internet. Another mistake that people make and again I believe this ties into educating yourself and being responsible for your own privacy, is that when installing software you are asked to provide your full name, email address and maybe phone number. People assume that this information is needed to ensure the software is installed properly. In actuality, this information is available to website when you visit them. In a survey performed from March 15, 1996 to May, 1996 by the University of Lethbridge, Canada,Texas A& M University, Copus Christie,Texas, and University of Western Ontario Canada, a very thought provoking question was asked. " As a user of the internet/Information Highway I feel that it is my responsibility not to violate anyone’s privacy on the Internet (i.e., their right to determine for themselves, where to, when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated." 1.9% strongly agreed, 1.1% disagreed, 0.6% Disagreed somewhat, 1.9%undecided, 5.1% agreed somewhat, 19.5% agreed and 1.1% had no answer. These survey results suggest that people generally have good intentions regarding privacy on the internet, however as small as the percentage is, what about those 3.6% that did not agree. 3.6% is all that is needed to disrupt the integrity of many people’s privacy.

Generally, I believe that people are too lazy to take advantage of the option provided by Netscape and Internet and Explorer. For example the cookies warning option, or do not know about it. Both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer contain tools that let Web sites reach into the hard disk of your PC and run programs. These applets-the best-known are Java and ActiveX-can customize visits to a Web site based on your prior entries.Opening regulations by the government also brings about other concerns. A few of these concerns maybe, random monitoring of the email and Internet, wiretapping communications by the government. If the government really wants to enforce regulations, they may consider targeting the corporations that are guilty of retrieving consumer private information by displaying a consent and disclosure message. A law would not stop invasion of privacy but would allow prosecution of companies and people who violate the regulations. The Center for Democracy and Technology, a public-interest organization based in Washington, D.C., develops and advocates public policies to preserve civil rights and liberties in communications and computer technologies.

Privacy means a great deal in conserving our individuality and aspects of our lives that we do not care to share with others. People are hesitant when providing their social security card, birth certificates or other forms of identifications but yet would provide their credit card to purchase items over the internet. The bottom line is that although enforcing the Government to set regulation standards would make companies responsible for invading others privacy, we as a people would then lean on the government to responsible for privacy when we need to responsible for our own. Although we have law enforcement to that are supposed to protect usagainst criminals, do we still walk in a dark alley at 2:00 a.m. with a purse full of money by ourselves?

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